


Changing Our Reality

by DisasterZone42 (WizWitch), Inventive Writer 42 (WizWitch)



Series: Changing Our Reality [1]
Category: Milo Murphy's Law, Phineas and Ferb
Genre: Across the 2nd Dimension, Gen, I was challenged to angst, YOU get some angst and YOU get some angst and YOU get some angst, and I shall deliever, and the aftermath, focuses on the MML characters though, warning for torture references
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-20
Updated: 2017-01-26
Packaged: 2018-09-01 05:08:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 14,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8609998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WizWitch/pseuds/DisasterZone42, https://archiveofourown.org/users/WizWitch/pseuds/Inventive%20Writer%2042
Summary: Bradley's never questioned Emperor Doofenshmirtz's rule over the Tri-State Area--it was just a fact of life, and his family was part of the Elites so it never caused too many problems. However, when he meets Melissa Chase of the Resistance after seeing something at Doof's headquarters, he can't help but rethink things...Meanwhile, Melissa is concerned with relocating her best friend she hasn't seen in years despite no signs of him. At least, no signs until she runs into a snarky Elite kid.





	1. Prologue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Martin and Milo Murphy are called in to meet with Doofenshmirtz after a few incidences with Murphy's Law and inadvertently give him an idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're on tumblr, you know that posts about MML kids in the 2nd Dimension have become a thing (for...some reason...). So, I was showing these posts to my boyfriend claiming he should let me angst in this fandom because I couldn't top those posts.
> 
> Naturally, he challenged me to /out angst/ them. So, I decided to write a fic based on those ideas but taken up a couple notches. I have gotten a couple people to scream at me just from the ideas, so here's the prologue--Milo's about 6 in this.

Doofenshmirtz let out a small huff when he heard the door open out of his view. What was with people and _bothering_ him so much? Didn’t they know he was busy controlling the Tri-State Area?

“Uh, excuse me? You wanted to see me and my son?”

Doofenshmirtz finally looked up from the blueprints he was working nodded and nodded at the sight of a man holding a young child at the doorway. “Ah yes, the two that have been destroying my Norm-Bots.”

The man let out a sigh as he adjusted the kid on his hip. “That’s a misunderstanding, Sir.”

“We’e not jinktheth!” the kid yelled as he glared at Doofenshmirtz. “We’e jutht thpethal!”

The moment Doofenshmirtz raised his good eyebrow, the kid gasped and hid his face against the man’s neck, so Doofenshmirtz focused his gaze back on the man. “Care to explain, Mr.…”

“Murphy,” the man answered, “I’m Martin Murphy, and this is my son, Milo.”

Doofenshmirtz crossed his arms and nodded. “All right, Mr. Murphy, care to explain what misunderstanding has caused it to appear that you two are destroying my Norm-Bots?”

“Well, as strange as it sounds, the explanation is simply ‘Murphy’s Law’.” When Doofenshmirtz gave no reaction, Martin sighed and continued, “You know, ‘anything that can go wrong will’?”

“I’m aware of what Murphy’s Law is, but you’re the only two that’ve destroyed this many Norm-Bots.”

Martin shrugged slightly. “Well, around us, Murphy’s Law tends to almost be a guarantee. Things just tend to go wrong if they’re able to, which includes your robots.”

Doofenshmirtz nodded slightly and focused his gaze back on Milo. “And this happens with both of you?”

Milo turned his head to look over his shoulder at Doof but didn’t say anything as Martin adjusted his grip on the kid. “Yes, it’s a hereditary condition. I’m sorry for having inconvenienced you like that. We didn’t do anything on purpose to damage your bots—it just happened.”

“All right then, Mr. Murphy,” Doofenshmirtz said as he stroked his goatee. “I’ll let you go for now then. However, I doubt this’ll be the last time I see you in here—I _will_ be checking in to make sure you’re not _purposely_ sabotaging my Norm-Bots.”

“Of course, Sir.”

As Martin turned to leave with Milo, Doofenshmirtz put aside the blueprint he initially had been working on, then pulled up another sheet of blueprint paper for a new project. That little visit left him with a wonderfully awful idea…

 

**~§¤§~**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: kids are one of the best judges of character, and I headcanon that Milo was actually kinda shy as a kid, so that's why he's kinda half-hidden for most of this. Oh well.
> 
> And I know it doesn't look like anything really went wrong. Don't worry, something went /really/ wrong.


	2. Chapter 1: Under His Empire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bradley starts questioning his view on Emperor Doofenshmirtz before immediately justifying them.
> 
> Melissa returns from an unsuccessful raid and can't help but think of her old friend she has yet to find.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now we're in the present time! This fic takes place before the events of the film, so Doof's in power and all that stuff. I think I also took some inspiration from "Sonic Underground" for some of the stuff with The Elites, or you can think of them as kinda like The Capitol from "The Hunger Games".
> 
> This is a horrible idea because it's almost 11 at night and I finished writing this chapter like 20 minutes ago and did like, two read-throughs.

Bradley let out a small huff as he leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. These stupid Elite functions were all the same—he’d show up with his parents, they’d tell some of the other Elites about his accomplishments in his studies, some of the other women would fawn over him slightly for being “so precious”, and then he’d be left alone for the next _several_ hours while his parents drank and socialized.

Yet he still came with every month because, honestly, what else was he supposed to do? His parents would surely ground him if he so much as toed out of line, and besides, it wasn’t like he had anything else to do.

Still, didn’t stop him from being bored.

Deciding that no one would notice if he did so, Bradley walked towards the doorway to the room and started walking down the corridor. He’d been in the Doofenshmirtz headquarters plenty of times—these Elite events always were held there—yet he knew nothing about the building. He’d just been to what he thought was meant to be a ballroom of sorts, and on one occasion he went to visit Emperor Doofenshmirtz. No one was paying attention to what he was doing, so perhaps he could look around. What harm could it do?

Bradley put his right hand on the wall and used that to guide him so he’d be able to find his way back to the ballroom later. Most of the building seemed to be empty other than the occasional Norm-Bot Bradley found himself ducking from, but it honestly was better than the event. Still, after nearly twenty minutes of nothing…

“C’mon, Murphy! The boss is done with you for the day, time for you to go back to your cell!”

Bradley jumped slightly at the voice and poked his head around a corner to see the source. When he looked, he saw a man with brown hair wearing sunglasses for some reason wearing some sort of uniform Bradley didn’t recognize, though it had the signature red “D” everyone’s Dooferalls had. In one hand, the man held a flashlight and a ring of keys (perhaps he was some sort of guard?), and in the other hand, he held the wrist of a child that had to be at least a few years younger than Bradley. The kid had brown hair that stuck up a bit with some strands falling into his face, and his Dooferalls were torn, though Bradley found himself focusing on the dark bruises covering the kid’s pale skin.

The most prominent ones were a ring around his neck—almost as if someone had tried to strangle him—and he had a large scratch on his cheek leading from a black eye. The arm not being held by the guard was a sickly yellow color, and he was holding it tightly against his chest as if it was sprained or perhaps even broken, and the boy’s bare feet were various shades of purple and black.

 _‘What happened to him?’_ Bradley thought to himself as he watched the guard tug at the kid’s arm, causing him to stumble.

“Keep up, Murphy! Unless you wanna go in the chamber…”

The kid gasped at the threat and suddenly quickened his pace so that the guard wasn’t tugging on his arm, causing Bradley to raise an eyebrow. What did ‘the chamber’ mean, and why was that guard treating a kid like that?

Did Emperor Doofenshmirtz know this was going on, and in his own building?

“Identification, please!”

Bradley jumped again at the sound of a Norm-Bot behind him before turning and giving an awkward wave. “Hello there, Sir. I am Bradley Todd Nicholson, age 13 and ID number 204255204. I just saw something I need to report to Emperor Doofenshmirtz, though.”

The Norm-Bot’s menacing head slipped into its body and was replaced with one that resembled a freckled redhead. “I’m sorry _Bradley Todd Nicholson_ ,” the Norm-Bot said, playing back a recording of Bradley’s own voice for his name. “You’re supposed to be in the ballroom!”

“I know, Sir, bu—”

“Come along, _Bradley Todd Nicholson_.” The Norm-Bot grabbed onto Bradley’s arm before he could object again and gave a small tug until Bradley started following it. As they went down the hall, Bradley got another glimpse of the kid, who was staring at him with wide eyes as the guard dragged him along.

“What’s going on over there?” Bradley asked as the guard pulled the boy around a corner. “There was a guard with a young kid…”

“Project Murphy is of no concern to you, _Bradley Todd Nicholson_ ,” the bot answered without even looking. “You need to be in the ballroom with the rest of The Elites.”

Bradley let out a huff but followed the Norm-Bot nonetheless while tucking away the phrase “Project Murphy” for later reference. The guard had called the kid Murphy, so was that his name? If so, what sort of project was he part of? And…why did the Norm-Bot know about it? Either someone with access to the Norm-Bots was responsible and reprogrammed at least one to know about the project so that it could be semi-protected from prying eyes. Either that…or Emperor Doofenshmirtz was somehow okay with the torture of a young kid.

…It was probably the former.

 

**~§¤§~**

Melissa let out a low huff as she and Mort came back to their Resistance base. It was a simple mission—it always was, that was why they were the only two that went.

Every month, the Elites of the city would have some sort of gathering at Doof’s headquarters, which meant that their homes were left empty, and since the Elites were the wealthy of the city…

Well, it was a perfect way to pick up some supplies that would scarcely be missed.

Especially since someone broke her computer tower again while getting excited over an online game and seriously that tower was needed for communications, Kris, stop playing with your nerd friends from Germany.

“How’d it go?” Sara asked as she came over to the two of them. “Get a good haul, remain relatively uninjured?”

“Yes to the latter, no the former,” Melissa answered as Mort helped her to a crate so she could sit down and start removing the piece of metal attached to her leg. “We lost everything when _one_ Norm-Bot found us.”

“Melissa, it wasn’t that bad,” Mort assured as he rubbed her shoulder, but she quickly slapped his hand away. “Today just wasn’t our lucky day.”

Sara bit her lip as she ran her fingers through Melissa’s curls, dislodging the black bandana she was wearing. “Mort, why don’t you go check in with Kris and see if any of the other teams got anything? I’ll talk with Melissa a bit.”

Mort nodded at the suggestion before leaving the two girls by themselves. Once he was gone, Melissa groaned and crossed her arms without looking at Sara. “You need to head home—your parents are gonna start worrying about you soon.”

“And yours won’t?” When Melissa didn’t answer, Sara sighed and started wringing the bandana in her hands. “It’s okay to miss him, you know. I certainly do.”

“He was your brother—of course you miss him.” Melissa sighed again and removed her sunglasses, revealing bloodshot eyes with a layer of tears. “I know it’s horrible, but sometimes when something goes wrong, I just…can’t help but think of him. I mean, that was kinda a thing around him, right?”

Sara couldn’t help her laugh as she sat down next to Melissa and wrapped an arm around the younger girl. “I understand. You two didn’t know each other that long, but he did leave an impact—that’s just what he does.”

“He’s still the only person I’d consider my best friend,” Melissa muttered as she rubbed at her eyes. “I’m not giving up on him, though.”

Sara chuckled and gave Melissa a small squeeze. “Of course not,” she answered in a thick voice. “I’m just as certain he’s still out there somewhere as you are.”

Melissa tried to speak, but her throat closed up before she could. The two of them were the only ones that believed Milo was still alive, but hope could only last so long…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Those Norm-Bots become hard to take seriously when you headcanon them talking like this...
> 
> So little Easter Eggs:  
> -There were two unnamed MML characters in there  
> -There's a reference to one of Vincent Martella's other roles  
> -The code Bradley spit out doesn't mean anything--it's the RGB code for my Word files (if you make it a mint green color, it doesn't strain your eyes as much)


	3. Chapter 2: A Chance Encounter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Melissa and Sara are out walking Diogee one fine day when they run into An Elite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *awkward shrug* I'm kinda headcanoning that while the film implied that Danville citizens weren't supposed to be outside often, if you have the proper paperwork it's allowed at certain times. That was the only way I could justify this. Trust me, that'll make sense once you read

“Let’s see, shall we turn left or right here?” Sara asked as she adjusted her grip on Diogee’s leash.

Melissa pushed up her sunglasses and looked to the left, where she could see Doof’s headquarters a few blocks over. “I vote right—we don’t want Diogee anywhere near there.”

Sara nodded and checked that there weren’t any vehicles or Norm-Bots and wrapped a hand around Melissa’s Dooferalls strap to help anchor her, but before they could make their way, Diogee suddenly started tugging at the leash towards the left. “Diogee! We’re going this way!”

Diogee barked at Sara’s objection once before tugging at the leash again until it slipped out of Sara’s hand. “Diogee!”

Melissa didn’t even think before dropping her cane and running after the dog. They both knew that—for some reason—Diogee had some sort of preoccupation with Doof’s HQ, but it also had the largest concentration of Norm-Bots out of anywhere in the city. They were already risking enough by being outside…

As she ran after the dog, Melissa ignored both the Norm-Bots yelling at her about name and identification (could she even recall her number?) and the ache in her leg from running on her prosthetic in favor of keeping up with Diogee. Unfortunately, the dog was smaller than her, and therefore had the advantage that the Norm-Bots automatically found _her_ to be the most suspicious thing on the street, and therefore she was slowed down considerably. Add in that Diogee had four working legs while she had one…

Dumb ideas.

Naturally, she couldn’t catch up with Diogee until they were almost at the building, and that was because of the wall of Norm-Bots blocking the way.

“Name and identification, please,” one of the Norm-Bots said as Melissa picked up Diogee.

“Along with your license for that animal,” another one added.

“Uh, well, I’m Melissa Jennifer Chase, age thirteen,” Melissa answered as she tried to step back despite the ache in her leg. “As for identification number and license…”

“Her number is 202106018,” Sara suddenly said as she came over and handed Melissa her cane and grabbed onto Diogee’s leash. “I’m Sara Sadie Murphy, age sixteen and ID 239202058.” She reached into the pocket of her Dooferalls to pull out a folded up sheet of paper. “The dog is mine, and I have his license right here. I am terribly sorry for causing a disturbance.”

“I’m not,” Melissa muttered, earning an elbow to the ribs from Sara. “Ow!”

The Norm-Bots ignored Melissa and took Sara’s pet license to scan over the license. “According to this, Dog 254238171 belongs simply to family 528, which _Melissa Jennifer Chase_ is not a part of.”

Sara put an arm around Melissa’s shoulders so she could subtly cover the younger girl’s mouth. “Melissa helps me walk my family’s dog most of the time. It should be in his record…”

“Ah yes. 202106018 is on record for 254238171,” the Norm-Bot said before handing the license back to Sara. “Please stay out of trouble now.”

“I’ll stay out of trouble once I get a chance to—” Melissa muttered before Sara elbowed her again.

“We’ll be going now then, Sir. Have a good day,” Sara said as she gripped Melissa’s Dooferalls strap again. “Come on, we need to head home. Especially because I think you need to rest your leg a bit.”

Melissa rolled her eyes and pulled her arm away so she could walk several steps ahead of Sara. She knew the way back to their houses, and if they were side-by-side, Sara would wind up lecturing her about how she’d been pushing her limits lately.

Too bad she wasn’t paying attention to what was in front of her, and she wound up running into someone else.

“Gah!”

“Hey, watch it!”

“Melissa!”

Melissa pushed herself up onto her hands and gave Sara a thumbs-up before looking at the person sprawled on the ground in front of her. He was a black-haired kid around her age with glasses, and under his Dooferalls, he was wearing some sort of gray flannel shirt.

“Are you okay?” Sara asked as she knelt down by Melissa and Diogee tried to lick her face. “We’re terribly sorry abo—oh dear.”

“’Oh dear’?” Melissa echoed with a raised eyebrow. “What’s—”

“You’re an Elite,” Sara continued while looking at the boy, who was now glaring at Melissa through his glasses. “I’m terribly sorry about that, Sir.”

“I’m sure you are,” the boy answered cooly as he got up. “And yes—I’m Bradley Nicholson.”

“Oh, so you think you’re all special…”

“Melissa, hush!” Sara pulled one of Melissa’s arms over her shoulders and the two stood up.  “I’m terribly sorry, Sir. My friend here doesn’t always think before she speaks.”

The boy—Bradley—crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow as he picked up Melissa’s cane for her. “I take it this is yours?”

“Yes.” Melissa took the cane back and put her weight on it so she could move away from Sara. “…Thanks, I guess…”

Bradley nodded then looked down at Melissa’s prosthetic. “What happe—”

“Don’t you dare finish that question.”

Sara let out a slow sigh before reaching for Melissa’s shoulder. “Melissa, why don’t we head home? Your dad’s gonna start worrying.”

“Ah yes, shouldn’t worry the parents,” Bradley commented with a nod. “Mind if I ask why you two are out here in the first place, though?”

“We were walking my dog,” Sara explained, lifting up Diogee’s leash to make her point. “Melissa’s a close friend of mine so she likes to come with…oh, I don’t think we’ve introduced ourselves! I’m Sara, and this is my friend, Melissa.”

“Don’t tell him that…” Melissa muttered to herself, earning another elbow jab from Sara.

Bradley nodded again as he readjusted his glasses. “Well, Sara, it was a pleasure to meet you and your friend. I hope to see you two in the future.”

Sara managed a small smile and extended her hand out towards Bradley, which he accepted in a handshake. “Likewise. You certainly are a polite young man.”

Melissa rolled her eyes and started shuffling away as they finished exchanging their farewells. Yeah, the kid seemed nice, but he was still an Elite.

“Melissa, wait up!” Sara yelled before jogging over with Diogee. “You can’t be wandering yourself, especially with your leg hurting.”

“It doesn’t hurt,” Melissa answered flatly. “Besides, you were busy with your Elite friend there.”

Sara sighed and reached over to squeeze Melissa’s shoulder again. “Melissa, we don’t wanna cause problems with The Elites or the Norm-Bots if we wanna continue our…endeavors. Doof is in control of the Bots, and The Elites are fairly chummy with him.”

“Then why would you tell him our names‽” Melissa spared a moment to glare at Sara over her shoulder, then focused her gaze in front of herself again.

“It’s not like he knew our full names. Besides, being as responsible and polite as possible makes us less likely to be reported for anything. If we’re to find Milo, we can’t risk getting arrested.”

Melissa simply pressed her lips together but remained quiet. No matter how naïve it seemed, Sara deserved to hold on to some shred of hope about her brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sara and Melissa's ID numbers are the RGB codes for their hair colors, Melissa's middle name is a Doctor Who Reference, Sara's is a Steven Universe one (for several reasons), Diogee's ID is the RBG code of his fur, and the ID for the Murphy family as a whole is simply the first three digits of their last name numerized (122118160825) backwards.
> 
> So Melissa and Bradley have officially met. Next chapter is where their interactions become /hilarious/.


	4. Chapter 3: Project Murphy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Because tumblr wanted to see what was going on with Project Murphy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously, I asked if people wanted to know what was going on with Milo or if they would rather wait until later in the fic. This option won.
> 
> This also wound up being the shortest chapter. Whoops! ^^

He squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his hands against his ears to block out the dark and quiet. It was a fruitless effort—those actions only made things darker and quieter—but at least he could pretend he wasn’t in The Chamber.

The Sensory Deprivation Chamber only lacked light and sound, but he’d long become numb to the limited smells that tended to cling to every part of The Facility, the walls and floor were to smooth for him to be able to calm him down at all, and taste honestly wasn’t gonna do much. So he was trapped in his own mind, focused on everything he’d been through in the past…he didn’t even know how long he’d been held by Emperor Doofenshmirtz and Elliot.

His whole life…or at least as long as he could consciously remember. Sometimes, when he focused hard enough or as he was drifting off to Sleep (on nights he was able to), he could glimpse images of someone else…but the images would often fade away before he could fully grasp them.

Suddenly a beam of light pierced the never ending Darkness, and he quickly stood up in the center of The Chamber. Laying Down was only Allowed when he could Sleep, and Sleep was something he only could do when he was Good, and he never was in The Chamber when he was Good.

“Mornin’, Murphy!”

Loud, Loud, Elliot’s voice was Very Loud, especially after he was in The Chamber, but he Couldn’t React. Reacting led to Punishments and he was So Tired.

Elliot stepped into The Chamber and wrapped one of his hands around his upper arm, resulting in a ring of heat fighting against the chill of his skin.

“Emperor Doofenshmirtz has use of you, so let’s get going!”

Elliot gave him no chance to respond before tugging at his arm, nearly tugging it out of socket (again). He quickly got his legs to move underneath of him so he could follow Elliot into the hallway outside of The Chamber.

He tried to keep with Elliot down the hall, but every once and a while he would trip over his bare feet, causing Elliot to tug at his arm harder again with some sort of threat—typically another night in The Chamber or not being able to Sleep.

Finally, they got to It.

His breath quickened slightly at the sight. The Machine—Pain, lots of Trouble. That was all It caused.

“Hello there, Elliot,” Emperor Doofenshmirtz greeted without looking at them. “Glad to see you were able to bring the weapon here.”

“Well you can get it next time then if you think I’m so slow at this,” Elliot answered as he dragged him to It. “It keeps tripping over itself.”

Emperor Doofenshmirtz didn’t respond, instead going over to It. “Well, the machine is still ready for it. Bring it over.”

“Yes, Sir.” Elliot tugged on his arm again, but he nearly fell over from the sudden force. No—not The Machine, not It. “Murphy!”

He gasped slightly when Elliot tugged on his arm again, but he did relent and follow Elliot to It.

“It” was a glass chamber with some sort of that he would be restrained in while Emperor Doofenshmirtz would stand at a nearby control panel to cause various calamities around the city, which he would always be made aware of—even when he wasn’t told, he just _knew_ what was going on out there.

He allowed Elliot to restrain him in It, forcing him to stand in the center of It with his arms outstretched to the sides. He watched Elliot lock the chamber shut, and once it was locked, he looked over at Emperor Doofenshmirtz at the control panel looking out at the city. “Now, what shall we do today…Ooh, there’s a lovely pair of girls out for a walk today…”

He braced himself for the electricity before it came, but his body still screamed in Pain as Emperor Doofenshmirtz started powering It.

_“Let’s see, shall we go left or right here?”_

_“I vote right—We don’t want Diogee anywhere near there.”_

Those voices…they seemed…

Suddenly It was turned on, and The Pain took over his body

The Pain last Too Long, but it always did. Emperor Doofenshmirtz would charge up for one shot, then shoot somewhere in the city. Then some more of his energy would be stored up and Elliot would escort him back to His Room or The Chamber depending on the day.

Today was a Room Day.

The walk back to His Room was shorter than to It, but he still was dragged by Elliot for several steps at a time. When they got back to His Room, Elliot used a key to unlock it, and then dragged him in.

“Sleep?” he asked as Elliot put his wrists in the shackles attached to the wall.

“Sleep?” Elliot questioned. “You want to sleep, do you?”

He flinched back slightly at the tone, but then gave a feeble nod. “Please?”

Elliot merely chuckled as he tightened the shackles around his wrists, reopening several bruised cuts. “If you can, you can. If you can’t, you can’t.” Elliot clicked the locks of the shackles, then pulled on the chains so he was forced to remain standing before patting him on the cheek. “See ya later, Murphy.”

And then he was left alone in His Room to try and remember a Life Before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...Elliot officially has beaten Melissa as the most uncooperative character in this fic. Like, Milo was nice and submissive for this chapter, Doof...eh, but Elliot kept wanting to...I don't even know.
> 
> Whatever, this'll only make a later scene more satisfying. Please place your death threats down below!


	5. Chapter 4: Decision Making

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bradley overhears some stuff from Sara and Melissa, which he finds a need to take a deeper look into

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, double-length chapter since I won't be able to type tomorrow. That, and I love the scene where Melissa interacts with Bradley ^^

“Melissa, wait up!” Sara suddenly yelled before jogging down the sidewalk, leaving Bradley by himself. “You can’t be wandering by yourself…”

Bradley couldn’t hear the rest of their conversation as they walked off, but he found himself walking in the same direction as they did. The two of them talked in hushed whispers, but it wasn’t too challenging for him to get close enough to hear if he listened closely enough—something about needing to behave so that they couldn’t get in trouble. Who was Milo, though?

Curiosity fully piqued, Bradley glanced down at his watch and decided he could risk following the girls for a bit before his parents questioned his whereabouts.

Or at least one of his tutors would.

“The stuff Kris found about Project Murphy proves he’s alive at least,” Sara pointed out without looking at Melissa. “We can hang on to that.”

“All she proved was what we already knew,” Melissa answered with a huff. “All those proved was that he was with… _him_ at some point, and we don’t know he’s still there now.”

Sara looked over her shoulder and sighed at the sight of Bradley, but didn’t say anything in regards to him being there—much to his relief. “Trust me—if something happened to him, I’d know.”

Melissa sighed and glanced over her shoulder at Bradley. “Fine, you tell yourself that. Kris said she’d dig for more information about the project today, so I’m gonna wait until we know his status before telling myself everything’s fine.”

“All right…” Sara rubbed Melissa’s shoulder a bit then pushed a lock of her hair back. “I just don’t like you being so negative like this, though.”

Melissa adjusted her sunglasses and glanced back at Bradley again. “Whatever, let’s just get back home. I think it is starting to hurt…”

Sara nodded and wrapped an arm around Melissa’s shoulders. “All right, Mel. Lemme know if you need a rest.”

The group continued without talking until they made it to the girls’ neighborhood, at which point Melissa looked over at Bradley and let out a loud groan. “He’s still there!” she hissed to Sara. “What do we do? He’ll see us if we—”

“I’ll take care of it. You can Diogee can head inside and I’ll meet you in there.”

Melissa looked at Sara a moment before letting out a huff and grabbing Diogee’s leash. “Fine. But I don’t want to see that Elite again.”

Sara rolled her eyes and pat Melissa on the head before walking over to Bradley. “Hey, how can I help you, Sir? I was under the impression that you would be heading home after talking with us.”

“You two intrigued me,” Bradley answered as he adjusted his glasses. “I was wondering what you two were talking about.”

“I didn’t know that Elites were interested in the lives of us commoners.” Sara crossed her arms and looked up and down the street for Norm-Bots. “We’ve just had a few problems in the past that affect Melissa a bit, nothing to concern yourself with.”

Bradley clasped his hands behind his back and watched over his shoulder as Melissa and Diogee walked to the house and stepped into some sort of side entrance. “Are you two sisters or something?”

Sara pushed a lock of her hair behind her ear as she answered, “Basically—she was friends with my little brother, and she tends to be by herself a lot, so I kind of adopted her as a little sister.”

“’Was’? As in past tense?”

“We don’t talk about what happened very much.”

 “Oh…” Bradley rocked on his feet slightly and looked at where Melissa had gone in to see if he could make out the seam of the door. “Well, I’m sorry for bothering you then. I was honest about seeing you two in the future, though.”

“Well, despite how Melissa acted and what we’ve heard about Elites, I don’t think either of us would mind running into you again as well,” Sara answered with a slight smile.

Bradley nodded and turned to walk away, and Sara let out a small sigh of relief. As much as she chastised Melissa for acting out in front of Elites and Norm-Bots, that one had been surprisingly close to discovering the Resistance base. If Doof were to find them…

She shook her head as she walked up to the secret entrance at the side of the house. No one knew where these entrances came from, but most of the houses around town had them and they all led to underground bases that were perfect for the Resistance’s purposes.

Yeah, the passages and such were a little small sometimes, but they were minor inconveniences when it came to keeping hidden from Doof.

By the time she got underground, Melissa already had changed out of her Dooferalls and was sitting on a crate to retie her metal prosthetic to her leg with her sunglasses next to her. “Is the Elite gone?”

“He left before I came down,” Sara assured as she walked over to a different crate and opened it up. “You changed quickly.”

Melissa simply rolled her eyes as she finished tying the prosthetic. “I can’t stand Dooferalls, and my leg was hurting. I hate that ‘Doof-approved’ thing—I don’t think it fits correctly, but it’s a pain to get a new one.”

“At least you can use that one down here,” Sara pointed out as she pulled an outfit out of the crate. “I’m gonna talk with Kris about what she’s found with Project Murphy and its status. Can I trust you to not get any sort of trouble while you’re by yourself?”

“Relax, I’ll be fine for a bit,” Melissa answered while waving her hand. “Just go talk with Kris.”

Sara let out a slow breath before leaving the entrance area of the base, which Melissa chose to ignore as she got up and opened up another crate. Quick inventory checks could never hurt…

“Hey, Melissa,” Mort greeted as he came into the room. “Glad to see you and Sara could make it. Something happen while you were out?”

“Diogee ran off towards Doof’s tower again,” Melissa explained simply without looking at Mort. “And naturally there were Norm-Bots there, so we had to deal with _that_ , and if that wasn’t enough, we ran into an Elite who decided to follow us.”

“You were followed by an Elite‽” Mort yelled causing Diogee to let out a small whine. “Did they see how you two got down here?”

Melissa threw her head back and let out a groan. “Yes, Mort, we are completely stupid in that we would allow an Elite to follow us down here,” she said before pushing up her sunglasses so she could pinch the bridge of her nose. “Have some faith in us…”

Of course, before Mort comment on it, the entrance elevator came down again, this time with Bradley on it.

“…Uh, hi?” Bradley greeted as he stepped off the elevator. “Kinda small elevat—”

Melissa quickly grabbed her cane and aimed it at his neck while Mort came around to grab his arms from behind.

“…Well you guys have great hospitality,” Bradley comment dryly. “Are all guests treated this way?”

“What are you doing here, and how did you find this location?” Melissa asked as she shoved her cane against Bradley’s neck.

“I saw you and your dog come down,” Bradley answered with an eye roll. “You guys should be more careful if you wanna keep your secret lair secret—I don’t think the front of your house is the best place to have a secret location.”

Melissa let out a low growl but pulled back on the cane a little.

“You didn’t explain why you were here,” Mort added without letting go. “If you were gonna report us, you didn’t have to come down here.”

“Yes, but I had to come down here to ask Melissa and Sara what they know about Project Murphy,” Bradley answered with an eye roll.

“Pr-project Murphy?” Melissa stepped back away from Bradley and lowered her cane. “What do you know about Project Murphy?”

“I don’t think I’m comfortable sharing in these conditions,” Bradley answered with a pointed look at Mort. “If you don’t mind…”

“You’re still an Elite,” Mort answered without letting go. “None of us can be sure about if we can trust you.”

“If he knows about Project Murphy, though…” Melissa sighed and adjusted her sunglasses. “We can’t let you go—you’re a liability as an Elite knowing about where we are—but if you know about Project Murphy, you better share it with me.”

Bradley rolled his eyes and attempted to tug away from Mort. “Well we’re at a standstill. Why don’t you share what you know about it, and then I’ll share my information. How does that sound, Melissa?”

Melissa crossed her arms and looked to the side. “I don’t know much—we just found out about it recently. It’s a project of Doof’s that involves a friend of mine...we already had suspicions that Doof was responsible for his disappearance, though… We don’t even know if he’s still alive.”

“Well, I know for a fact that Project Murphy is still running strong,” Bradley answered with a grin, causing Melissa to snap her head up with a gasp. “I was at Emperor Doofenshmirtz’ Headquarters the other night and saw a kid there. A Norm-Bot pulled me away, but when I asked he claimed that ‘Project Murphy wasn’t my concern’.”

Mort raised an eyebrow. “A kid? Wouldn’t Mil—”

“We still should do something about it,” Melissa said as she reached into the crate she was previously looking through. “Mort, would you mind covering for me with Sara?”

“What?” Mort loosened his grip enough for Bradley to break out, but didn’t try to grab him again. “You’re not seriously implying that you’re going to Doof’s HQ by himself!”

Melissa pulled out a utility belt and put it on. “I won’t be by myself… Bradley is gonna help me get around.”

Bradley’s body tensed up and Mort face-palmed.

“That’s not what I meant, Melissa.”

Melissa pursed her lips together as she adjusted her sunglasses. “Sara would insist on coming if she knew what was going on. I don’t want her to learn about this and then have to deal with it.”

“So you’re gonna deal with it with an Elite‽” Mort questioned as he crossed his arms. “I don’t think this is a good idea.”

“Because I’m so known for good decisions…” Melissa muttered without looking at the boys. “Mort, just give me twelve hours for this. After twelve hours, you can bail my ass out and then yell at me all you want.”

“I don’t get a say in this?” Bradley questioned while throwing his hands in the air. “I could be _very_ uncooperative if you just drag me in!”

Melissa and Mort both looked over at Bradley with raised eyebrows. “Well, then,” Melissa said as she crossed her arms. “Fine, then—what’s your thought? Would you be willing to help me rescue this kid from Project Murphy?”

Bradley puffed his cheeks and let out a slow breath before nodding. “Might as well. You’d probably be unable to get through Emperor Doofenshmirtz’ Tower without me.”

Melissa crossed her arms and looked at Mort. “So he’ll be coming with me, and if we’re not back in twelve hours…”

Mort sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose before pulling out a pouch from his pocket. “All right, but you _better_ be careful.”

“Of course we will,” Melissa assured as she accepted the pouch. “I always am. Now, come on, Bradley—let’s get going before Sara tries to find me.”

“Wait, what’s Sara doing?” Mort suddenly asked as Melissa grabbed Bradley’s wrist and dragged him back to the elevator. “Where is she even?”

“She’s talking with Kris about something.” Melissa pushed Bradley into the elevator and smiled at Mort. “Ta ta!”

Once the two of them were gone, Mort let out a sigh and pressed his forehead against his hand. This could only end well…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's no way this plan will go wrong! Uh, yeah...may not update tomorrow due to Thanksgiving, but I will write in my notebook at least (Mom allows that), and next chapter will have a moment I am very excited for


	6. Chapter 5: Into Doof's HQ

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Melissa and Bradley take the mine cars under the city to sneak into Doof's Headquarters so they can find the Murphy Project

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Thanksgiving, everybody! This chapter's a little shorter than normal, but I love spoiling you lovelies ^^

“So why are you part of the Resistance?”

Melissa tightened her grip on the controls at the question. “Excuse me?”

Bradley sighed and leaned back in his seat. “Well, you don’t just go against your leader without reason; therefore you had to have had some reason for joining the Resistance.”

“I don’t need to share my life story with you.” Melissa reached over with her cane and used it to hit the track switch to make an upcoming turn. “Doof’s done some stuff that wound up affecting me personally when I was really young. I hate to admit I may not be a member of the Resistance if I wasn’t being fueled by spite.”

“Does it have to do with your friend you said disappeared? Because there’s no way that was Emperor Doofenshmirtz’ fault if your friend disappeared without reason.”

Melissa pressed her lips together and eased back on the speed. “You realize the only reason I decided to bring you was because I _didn’t_ want to talk about him, right? Plus you’re the only one who’s seen the kid from Project Murphy so you can tell me if I’ve completed my objective. I don’t want to share my life story with an Elite Prick.”

Bradley rolled his eyes and looked around the mine cart tunnel. “Don’t you want to know anything ahead of time about the kid?”

“…How old did he look?” Melissa looked at Bradley over her shoulder, though he couldn’t read her expression due to her lips being in a flat line and her sunglasses blocking her eyes. “Like, if you had to guess his age?”

“I don’t know, like seven or eight?” Bradley answered with a shrug. “Maybe nine at the most.”

Melissa nodded with a sigh and turned back to the front of the mine car, muttering to herself as she eased on the throttle some more.

“Is that all you needed to know?” Bradley asked with a raised eyebrow. “Just his age?”

“She’d tell me if she had a cousin, right?”

Bradley blinked at Melissa and tilted his head in confusion. “That…That’s not a response to what I said.”

Melissa slammed on the controls with her fist. “Ugh, you’re useless!” She let out a sigh and picked up her cane to hit another track switch. “Whatever—we’re almost at Doof’s headquarters. There’s an underground entrance, which is how we’ll get inside. Our major thing is we’re gonna have to avoid the Norm-Bots, but I think they’d be less likely to try to destroy you on the spot, so…”

“You’re gonna use me as a distraction?”

Melissa didn’t answer as the cars slowed to a stop and she leaped out onto a nearby platform. “C’mon, Elite—we need to head in to find the kid.”

Bradley sighed and climbed out of the mine car onto the platform after her. She pressed a button on the side of the wall, and a garage door opened up to reveal a decently-lit room filled that seemed surprisingly empty.

“Does Emperor Doofenshmirtz know about this?” Bradley asked as he followed her in. “I mean, it _is_ his building…”

“I’m not quite sure,” she answered without looking at him. “We should be careful, though. The Norm-Bots are usually everywhere.” She suddenly stopped walking and looked down at something in front of her as she took a step back. “Or some sort of robotic duck…”

“What?” Bradley jogged over and looked at what she’d found. “That’s not a duck, it’s a platypus—you can see with the beaver tail.”

Melissa looked at Bradley over her shoulder and said, “There is no way that’s a real word. Or a thing.”

Bradley rolled his eyes as Melissa grabbed his wrist to guide him to a nearby doorway, but the platypus—which was covered in except for a few features—moved in front of them again.

“Uh, Mister Robotic-Duck thing…” Melissa started as she reached down to move the creature out of the way. “We just need to—”

And suddenly the thing grabbed her wrist and threw her over itself onto the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So of course I end it on a slight cliffhanger. Hey, next chapter you're gonna get a scene I'm /really/ looking forward to, though!


	7. Chapter 6: Old Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Melissa and Bradley have been put in one of Doof's prison cells, and Melissa happens to know the prisoner in there with them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have been looking forward to this chapter for quite a while--ever since I knew it was going to happen.

A low groan escaped Melissa’s lips as she woke up. Apparently that duck thing was a lot stronger than it looked…

Well, Mort and Sara didn’t need to know she got her ass kicked by a robotic duck.

“Great—I was starting to worry that that platypus killed you or something.”

Ugh, right, she came to Doof’s Headquarters with An Elite…

Doof’s Headquarters!

At that memory, Melissa’s eyes shot open and she looked around at her surroundings. It was dark…but there was _some_ light coming in so that she could make out the fact she was in a room with four stone walls, one of which had several slits towards the top to let _some_ light in.

“What happened?” she asked as she sat up and looked around some more. Bradley was sitting about a yard away from her, and on the far wall was a pair of shackles—other than that, the wall was completely empty. “Where are we?”

“Some sort of prison cell,” Bradley answered as he watched Melissa sit up. “A Norm-Bot dragged us here after the platypus knocked you unconscious.

“…I did not lose a fight to a duck,” Melissa muttered before reaching up to remove her sunglasses, only to find they were missing. “Did I get raided‽”

Bradley shrugged and adjusted how he was leaning against the wall. “I have no clue what that means.”

Melissa let out a huff as she groped around to find that her belt was indeed missing. “It means they took my shit…”

“Ah…yeah, they took your belt. Your sunglasses fell off when you were knocked out, and you kinda dropped your cane…”

“And what did you do while this was happening?” Melissa rubbed at her eyes and tried to ignore how they seemed to be burning more than normal. “Just stand there and let us be nabbed?”

“What was I supposed to do? I couldn’t fight against them—several Norm-Bots arrived almost as soon as you were knocked out.”

Melissa let out another huff and used the wall to support herself as she stood up. “Well, the least you could do is help me search for a way out. We still need to find the Project Murphy kid.”

Before she could get a look around, though, the door suddenly opened up, momentarily blinding to two prisoners. “What are you two doing in here?”

Once the kids’ eyes adjusted to the sudden light, they were able to see the same two figures Bradley had seen at the Elite Event several nights before.

“There’s been a mistake,” Bradley started as he stood up. “See—”

“Your friend there is clearly with the Resistance,” the guard interrupted as he came into the cell, closing the door a bit behind him. “I’m sure that means you’re part of the Resistance…”

“Well, that’s a bit of a generalization,” Bradley answered as he crossed his arms. “We need to speak with Emperor Doofenshmirtz.”

“What, no we don’t!” Melissa yelled without looking at the boy being pulled into the cell. “Are you in charge of the Murphy Project?”

The kid looked at Melissa at her words, though she continued glaring at the guard as he answered, “That’s none of your business.” The guard locked the kid into the shackles, then quickly turned back to Melissa before she could make a move for the door. “You two will stay in here for now while I talk with the Big Boss. He’ll know what to do with you. What do you think, Murphy? Glad to have some company?”

The kid didn’t say anything, but Melissa finally looked over at him and gasped slightly.

“I’ll see you troublemakers later!” the guard said before leaving the cell, and the lock was clicked shut once the kids were submerged in darkness.

“…Not my name…”

Melissa looked towards the kid at the comment, though he was looking down at the ground. “What’d you say?”

“He’s wrong…My name’s not Murphy…” the kid repeated.

“Your name’s not Murphy?” she asked as she sat down on the ground and started messing with her prosthetic.

“Well then what is it?” Bradley asked while watching Melissa fiddle in the low light. “You gotta have one.”

The kid let out a low whine and pressed against the wall. “Don’t remember…”

Melissa managed to pull some sort of flashlight out of her prosthetic and used it to light up the room. “Do you know how long you’ve been here?” she asked as she shined it near the kid. “Or anything about before you came here?”

“Too long…” he answered as his eyes moved around the room, finally resting on Melissa’s prosthetic. “My Fault…”

Melissa raised an eyebrow at the comment but stood up again to walk over to the kid. “C’mon, let’s get you out of those chains.”

The kid’s eyes widened at the suggestion and he pressed further against the wall. “No, no…Not Allowed…Not Safe…”

“’Not safe’…?” Bradley repeated as he crossed his arms again.

“We’re trying to get you out of here,” Melissa added as she pulled a bobby pin out of her hair. “We can’t do that if you’re chained up like that.”

“I’m a Danger…” the kid said as Melissa stepped closer. “Please…don’t…”

Melissa pulled in her lower lip to bite on and looked at Bradley. “You’re the one who’s seen him before…”

“I don’t know anything, though!” Bradley answered before taking a slow breath. “Aren’t you Resistance people trained for stuff like this or something?”

“Mort and I never did rescue missions…” she muttered. “And if we did, he would’ve been the one dealing with them, not me… I get abrasive with others…”

“You? Abrasive?” Bradley snorted. “Can’t see it.”

“Har har.” Melissa turned back to the kid and let out a slow breath. “Milo, everyone that thinks your dangerous is wrong. You can’t control what happens around you, and anyone that thinks you do is stupid.”

The words she was saying suddenly processed through her brain and—for a split second—she saw a young Milo Murphy on the playground instead of the Murphy Project kid in a dark cell.

 _Milo_ …

Melissa closed her eyes and furiously rubbed at them. No, there was no way this was possible—it couldn’t be, Milo—

“’L’ssa?”

Melissa opened her eyes again to look at the kid— _Milo_ —who was scrutinizing her. “Y-yeah…I’m Melissa…” She took in a shaky breath and stepped forward. “And…And you’re Milo?”

“I…I don’t know…” Milo screwed his eyes shut and pressed his chin against his chest. “I can’t remember…”

“Wait, how do you know who he is all of a sudden?” Bradley asked from behind Melissa.

“H-he’s an old friend of mine…I said that same thing when we first met… None of the other kids would come near you because they thought you were dangerous because of your condition… But you aren’t dangerous—you’re just a little different, right?”

Milo didn’t respond, but Melissa took a few steps forward.

“We were best friends… Doof started rising to power, but we still found ways to be with each other… And then you disappeared. Sara and I missed you so much…”

“Sara…” Milo lifted his head up and looked at Melissa again. “Who…”

“Your sister.” Melissa took another step forward, and when Milo didn’t flinch, she continued walking towards him. “She never stopped believing we would find you…and here you are…” Melissa rubbed at her eye again and stopped about a yard away from Milo. “She wants to see you again, but she can’t if you stay locked up like that.”

“But…Not Safe…” He looked down at her prosthetic for a moment before looking at her again. “Hurt you…My Fault…”

Melissa looked down at her foot in confusion then back at Milo. “It’s not your fault—something happened with a Norm-Bot a long time ago. You had nothing to do with it.”

Milo furiously shook his head as tears escaped his eyes. “No, no, My Fault, Not Safe, Dangerous…”

“Milo, stop it!” Melissa suddenly yelled as the tears she’d been fighting started slipping down her cheeks. “Those are all lies! Please, I want to help you…”

“No, no…can’t hurt you…” Milo screwed his eyes shut again and started rocking on his feet. “No…no…Not again…”

“Milo, you’ve never hurt me,” Melissa whispered as she took another step forward. “Not until right now—it hurts me to see you chained up and blaming yourself like this. Please, can you let me unchain you?”

“No Hurt…”

“That’s right.” Melissa put a hand on his shoulder, but pulled it back when he flinched at the touch. “I’m going to unchain you now, okay? I promise, unchaining you won’t make you dangerous. I’ll be perfectly safe with you.”

Finally, Melissa was able to use her bobby pin to pick the locks of Milo’s shackles. Once his wrists were freed, she cupped his elbow in her hand and lowered the two of them to the ground. “There you go…Does that feel better, Milo?”

Milo didn’t say anything, but he did wind up crawling onto Melissa’s lap and curling against her. “Safe?”

“That’s right, Milo.” Melissa wrapped her arms around Milo and pulled him tighter against her. “We’re safe…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops, Bradley kinda disappeared...It was mostly a Melissa/Milo moment, though, so he didn't have much part in it.


	8. Chapter 7: Melissa and Elliot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Melissa's trying to get Milo to trust her enough for them to start planning a break-out, but she gets interrupted by a certain guard coming in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So back when I was writing chapter 3, Elliot was a major pain. One scene in this was planned at the time, though him being a pain encouraged me to let the scene go a certain way ^^
> 
> Also, the first moment is inspired by a little comic by a tumblr friend of mine: http://laneypenn.tumblr.com/post/152819948713/what-about-a-jelouse-zack-cuz-milo-spend-time-with
> 
> She also is the one who suggested that Amanda be an Elite, which gets reference in this ^^

“Your hands are all bruised up.”

Milo raised an eyebrow at Melissa’s comment before looking down at his hands. Yeah, there was some light bruising on His Hands, but it didn’t stand out too much—especially compared to some of his other bruises.

“You know what, I think I have something you can use,” Melissa added before digging in her pocket. “Never have been so grateful for Mort’s fascination with gemstones…” Before Milo could question anything, she pulled out a small pouch, which she quickly pressed into His Hands. “Why don’t you fiddle with these instead of wringing your hands like that?”

Milo focused on the pouch in His Hands and started twisting it. Once he started, though, he noticed that there was something inside the pouch. After struggling for a moment, he managed to open the pouch to reveal a bunch of small stones that he spilled on the ground. “Oh no!”

“Don’t worry,” Melissa said as she picked up some of the rocks. “See? It’s fine.”

“No… Everything Goes Wrong… Murphy’s Law…”

Milo rolled into a ball and started rocking as he continued muttering to himself. Everything Went Wrong around him, and that Would Never Change. Emperor Doofenshmirtz and Elliot always told him that… That was how It worked…

“Someone’s coming.”

Milo attempted to Stand Up at Bradley’s announcement, though he found it difficult to uncurl from his ball-like position. Too Much… Everything was Too Much…

“It must be that guard again… Milo’s too distressed for us to be able to rush him, though.”

His Fault… His Fault…

“I think he’s having a panic attack.”

“Well I don’t know how to deal with that!”

“Calm down for one—panicking in front of Amanda always makes her worse.”

“…Who’s Amanda?”

The Door opened before Bradley could answer, and Milo looked up enough to see Elliot in the doorway. _‘Stand Up,’_ he thought to himself. _‘Elliot hates you Sitting…’_

“What are you doing, Murphy?” Elliot questioned when he saw Milo. “How’d you get out?”

Milo’s view of Elliot was blocked, and it took him a moment to realize that Melissa was Standing in front of him. “I let him out! And I’m not letting you take him back to Doofenshmirtz.”

“Melissa, settle down—we don’t know that Emperor Doofenshmirtz is in charge of Project Murphy!”

“I’d suggest you listen to your friend there.”

Oh no, Elliot was Angry. Not Good, His Fault…

“I’m not backing down!”

_Thwap!_

Milo gasped and Stood Up as Elliot’s sunglasses fell to the floor. Did Melissa just…

“All right, Missy!  You’ve earned yourself a nice punishment.” Elliot gripped onto Melissa’s arm with a tight grip, and then grabbed Milo with his other hand. “C’mon, you two. Let’s go.” Elliot glared at Bradley and added, “You better behave, or you’re next…”

“O-Of course…”

“Don’t Hurt her!” Milo yelled as Elliot pulled them out of the cell. “My Fault! Always My Fault!”

“Milo, stop it!” Melissa yelled at Milo, causing him to recoil back. “It’s not your fault…”

“Always My Fault…”

“Glad you’ve been listening, Murphy…” Elliot muttered as he shoved Melissa towards a nearby Norm-Bot, which quickly held Her Wrists behind Her Back. “Bring her with us, Norm-Bot.”

“You got it, Sir!”

“Don’t Hurt Her…” Milo said again, which turned into a whine when Elliot squeezed his arm again.

“I will do whatever I want to do,” Elliot hissed in Milo’s ear quiet enough for Melissa to not hear, though she did see how he flinched away again.

“Leave him alone! He never did anything to you!”

Elliot gave Melissa a disinterested look. “You’re certainly a loud one. No wonder you got caught.”

“You wanna run that by me again?” Melissa growled without breaking her glare at Elliot.

Milo let out a low whine when Elliot tightened his grip again. “I’d suggest you shut up if you don’t want to wind up getting hurt.”

Melissa opened her mouth to retort, but closed it when she saw how Milo’s eyes were screwed shut. _‘Stop pissing the asshole off,’_ she mentally yelled, _‘Milo’s the one suffering for it…’_

Elliot put on a self-satisfied grin at Melissa’s lack of response. “See? This is how things will work out in your favor—you just need to behave yourself.”

Melissa resisted the growl in her throat at the comment and remained quiet the rest of the walk down the halls, though she felt herself clenching her jaw every time she saw Elliot tug at Milo for slowing down, making the poor kid nearly trip over. Soon enough, they’d almost arrived at where they were going, and she noticed that Milo was curling in on himself more than before as they approached the door. “Sir, do you mind telling me where you’re taking us?”

“Curiosity killed the cat, y’know,” Elliot answered without looking at her.

At the same time, though, Milo said, “We’re going to It…”

“’It’?” Melissa tilted her head and looked at Milo. “What does that mean?”

Milo shook His Head and ducked down.

“Don’t worry, you’re gonna find out real soon…” Elliot commented before opening the door.

“Even with a Norm-Bot at your disposal, you still take forever to bring it to me,” a voice said before they even could enter the room. “Am I certain I can still trust you to be bringing The Weapon to me every day?”

“The Resistance Girl proved to be a bit…feisty when I tried to grab The Weapon from its cell,” Elliot explained as he pulled Milo to The Machine. “I brought her down, though.”

“What are you doing to him?” Melissa asked as she watched Elliot open up the chamber. “What is that thing‽”

“Well aren’t you a curious thing?” Melissa turned to the additional voice and gasped when she saw Doof standing near some sort of control panel. “I don’t believe I know who you are…”

“And you don’t need to,” Melissa answered with a glare. “What are you doing to Milo?”

“Ah, you’re curious about Project Murphy…” Doof commented as Milo was chained up within the chamber. “Don’t worry, you’ll see in a moment what my lovely invention can do…”

Melissa looked over at Milo again as the chamber was locked and tried to break away from the Norm-Bot, to no avail.

“The Weapon is all set,” Elliot announced as he stepped back away from the machine.

Milo locked eyes with Melissa and mouthed an apology before Doof turned a switch on his control panel, causing Milo’s body to turn rigid from the electricity being pumped into his body.

Melissa heard screaming, though Milo’s mouth was closed, but then she felt her face heat up while tears fell down her cheeks, and she realized that her throat was sore—the screaming was from her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> He deserved to be punched in the face...and next chapter is gonna have a bit of fun ^^


	9. Chapter 8: Murphys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Melissa's run off to take care of Project Murphy, so naturally Sara has to bail the kid out of trouble

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, this took a while. And notes are gonna be quick because I'm gonna get yelled at in a bit...Major thing I wanna share: Kris is gonna be a bit of a secondary character in later chapters. Sheyffer on tumblr gave me some interesting ideas with her, and honestly the girl is gonna help with future plot stuff.
> 
> Second note: yeah, daily updates aren't a thing any more. Boo hoo, you're spoiled if you complain. I have school and stuff--a lot of this was written on my phone or when I was working in the library, so...

“Hey, Sara,” Kris greeted without looking up from her monitors. “Anything happen in town?”

“Other than running into a few Norm-Bots and an Elite kid, nothing really,” Sara answered with a shrug as she came into the room. “Did you find anything about Project Murphy?”

Kris nodded and pulled her headphones down so they were hanging around her neck. “Of course I did, Sara—I promised I would, didn’t I?”

Sara rolled her eyes as she came over around the desk, carefully stepping over wires, so she could see Kris’s monitor. “You find anything of interest for our purposes?”

“Well, there aren’t any ‘names’ in here, per se, but they mention ‘The Weapon’ semi-frequently, so I think that’s what’s being used instead. Anyway, according to these reports, ‘The Weapon’ was aquire—” Kris suddenly stopped and pressed one of her headphones to her ear. “That’s weird…”

“What’s weird?” Sara asked as Kris started clicking around her programs. “Is everything all right?”

“Someone set off an alarm,” Kris answered as she pulled up some video feed. “Uh, do you recognize this guy?”

Sara leaned over to see the camera feed, and once she recognized the figure, she slammed a fist on the desk. “Dammit!”

“Hey, watch the equipment!” Kris squinted at the screen and gasped. “Is that an Elite?”

“His name’s Bradley,” Sara answered as Mort and Melissa took Bradley down. “Melissa and I ran into him while we were walking Diogee. Can you check the outside cameras? I thought I distracted him…”

Kris gave Sara a side glance before going to her monitor and clicking around a bit. “Honestly, Sara, you wound me. Of course I can check those cameras.” Soon enough, the outside of the house was shown on screen, and Sara let out a small sigh of relief when she didn’t see anyone outside. “At least he didn’t bring friends or anything.”

“That’s a relief…” Sara pushed a lock of hair back and squinted at one of the images on Kris’s monitor. “Where is she going…?”

“Let’s look.” Kris clicked again, allowing the footage showing Melissa and Bradley going up in the elevator to fill up the screen again. “Well, looks like she and the Elite are leaving… I’d have to dig a bit to find out where they’re going, though.”

Sara crossed her arms and pinched the bridge of her nose. “That girl is in so much trouble… So what’d you find about the Murphy Project?”

**~§¤§~**

“So why exactly did Melissa think this was a good idea?” Sara asked as she eased the mine cars forward. “I mean, it’s one thing to go to Doof’s HQ, but it’s another to do it without any back up  _ and _ with an  _ Elite _ of all people…”

Mort crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat. “Sorry, Sara…”

Sara let out a sigh as she messed with the controls some more. “Melissa is honestly one of the most stubborn people I know… What exactly happened before she left, though?”

“That Elite kid claimed to know some stuff about Project Murphy—he claimed that he saw the kid for it. Melissa decided to drag him out to Doof’s HQ then, and she wanted me to cover for her.”

“Well thank you for  _ not _ doing that…” Sara checked the upcoming track change and sighed when it was where she wanted to go. “She just doesn’t think… I hate it when I have to leave her by herself because she does shit like  _ this _ …”

“Which is why we’re going after her.”

Sara looked over her shoulder and smiled at Mort. “Thanks, Mort. I honestly don’t know how long Melissa would’ve lasted with  _ anything _ if you didn’t stick by her.”

Mort shrugged and looked around the tunnels. “So do you have a plan or anything for when we get in there or are we going with a ‘Melissa plan’?”

“I have a comm with Kris, who’ll take care of cameras and Norm-Bots while we’re there,” Sara answered as she started easing the speed down. “We’ll go in, sneak around, get Bradley and Melissa, and--if Kris followed through on something--we’ll even finish their mission for them.”

“The Murphy Project thing?”

Sara nodded without looking at him. “We’re stopping The Murphy Project.”

The mine cars rolled to a stop and the two of them climbed out of them onto the platform surrounding the bunkers of Doof’s HQ. Sara and Mort both pressed their backs against the wall on either side of the door and Sara reached up for a comm unit in her ear. “Kris? Is everything ready for us to go in?”

_ “All systems are go.” _

Sara nodded despite Kris not being able to see her and elbowed the button that opened the door. “Let’s move.”

Mort nodded and followed Sara into the bunker. The lights were all on, which allowed for them to see that no one was in there--no risk of an ambush like Melissa and Bradley had.

The two were silent as they made their way through the hallways of Doof’s headquarters, only stopping when Kris had yet to give the all clear to Sara for certain corridors. Once they were certain they wouldn’t be spotted, Sara would give Mort the signal and the two of them would make their way to the next turn, where they would then wait for the next all clear from Kris.

_ “You guys are almost at the last hallway,” _ Kris said over Sara’s comm unit.  _ “The cell you’re looking for should be there, though one of Doof’s guards was down there before with a Norm-Bot, so there’s no guarantee that everyone will be there right this second…” _

“And you’re only telling me this now?” Sara questioned before letting out a sigh. “I take it you can't tell “All right, we’ll look into it. Let us know if the guard comes near, though.”

_ “Got it.” _

“Ready, Mort?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

Sara looked down the hall before running down with Mort on her heels. About halfway down, they slowed down and Sara pulled a small box out of a pocket on her vest. “Keep watch,” she ordered before turning to a steel door. She opened her box to reveal a lock-picking kit that she used to start opening the door. Thanks to years of practice, the lock managed to open fairly easily, and Sara slowly opened the door to creep into the cell. “Melissa? Bradley? Are you two in here?”

“Sara?” Bradley stepped into the light from the hall, and Sara couldn’t help but notice how he was wringing his hands. “How’d you get here?”

“Mort and I snuck here to find you guys. Where’s Melissa?”

Bradley shook his head and looked around. “I don’t know--a guard took her when he came for Milo.”

Sara’s eyes widened at the comment and she put a hand on the doorframe to support herself. “Milo?”

“Uh, yeah...He’s part of the Project Murphy thing you two were so interested in.”

Sara let out a slow breath and opened her mouth to speak before Kris suddenly started speaking.

_ “The guard’s returning with a Norm-Bot! You and Mort need to get out of sight!” _

“Got it, Kris…” Sara turned away from Bradley and called out “Mort! Disappear!”

The two Resistance members jogged back to the hallway they’d arrived from and turned around the corner as Elliot came by.

“You take out the bot, I take out the guard?”

“Got it.”

Melissa silently counted to herself to keep from charging in too early, and once she heard the guard’s confused voice (she didn’t know what he was saying, but that wasn’t a problem for her), she nodded at Mort and the two of them went in to take out their targets.

“Sara! Mort!” Melissa cried as Mort helped her get out of the now-deactivated Norm-Bot’s claws. “What are the two of you doing here? I’ll have you know I was doing just fine.”

“You were captured,” Sara commented without even looking at Melissa. Instead, her attention was focused on the small child on the floor near her. “M-Milo?” The boy looked up at Sara, though he moved back slightly away from her as she knelt down to hs level. “Milo… It’s you…”

She didn’t consciously notice the injuries Milo was covered in or how small he was--all she saw was her baby brother she lost so long ago. So, she didn’t think twice before diving forward to wrap the kid in a hug.

“Sara, wait!” Melissa pulled away from Mort’s support and pulled Sara away from Milo.

“What are you--”

That was when she saw what had happened to Milo in his absence.

“...We need to go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...Hm. Didn't go as expected. Oh well, next chapter'll be fun ^^
> 
> Now I need to go make nice with my sister. She became a teenager today and apparently it's a big deal *eye roll*


	10. Chapter 9: Back to Base

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kids all return to base and Melissa has to talk with Kris a bit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so very tired...school sucks and I can't wait for finals week. *yawns* Good chunk of the scene with Kris is based on conversations with Sheyffer on tumblr.

“Just...let me recap here…” Sara muttered without looking at the kids in the mine cars behind her. “Yesterday, Kris found something regarding what was called ‘Project Murphy’ while going through Doof’s computer systems. We agree on waiting until we got more details before doing anything, but then you charge into Doof’s headquarters without warning, a plan, or proper backup. Now, I’m not gonna lecture or yell at you or anything like that since you told Mort he could do that, but…” Sara sighed and turned to face Melissa, who was looking down at her hands in her lap. “Can I at least know why you did this?”

Melissa didn't answer, and Sara let out a small huff. “Melissa…”

“I always make stupid decisions, why do you need an explanation for this one?”

“Because this one wasn't stupid--it was _suicidal_.”

Melissa rolled her eyes and rested her cheek against her hand. “Look, everything turned out fine--nothing happened and we have Milo with us now. We don't need to discuss this.”

Sara huffed and looked out at the tracks in front of them. “Mort? Can you take over?”

“Sure thing, Sara.” Mort climbed over the cars to the front, and Sara relinquished control once he was in the front car. He took control of the cars, and Sara climbed over the cars to where Melissa was sitting. Sara gently wrapped an arm around Melissa and pulled her close, and Melissa relaxed into the hug after a moment.

“Care to tell me what happened now?”

“...I didn’t expect to find Milo. Just...it’s been so long, and Bradley said he saw a kid involved with Project Murphy…”

Sara gasped slightly and tightened her hug. “Melissa…”

Melissa shook her head and rubbed at her eyes. “You were just so _certain_ he was still alive so I never said anything. When Bradley almost confirmed what I thought, though… I wanted to get rid of Project Murphy before you found out…”

“...All right.” Sara sighed and ran her fingers through Melissa’s hair. “I am going to have to put you on probation, though. You were insanely reckless for doing something like that.”

Melissa let out a huff but didn’t say anything in response.

“We’re almost back to base!” Mort announced as they entered a lower tunnel. “Plan when §§we get back?”

“I want you to take Melissa and Milo to the med bay,” Sara answered without looking up. “Check for injuries and all that while I debrief with Kris and get the files on Project Murphy so we have a better idea of what to look for. Bradley, you’re staying where I can keep an eye on you--I know you helped Melissa, but you’re still an Elite.”

She swore she heard some noise of protest from the back of the mine cars, but she chose to ignore it--after his cushy life, he could deal with it.

 

**~¤§¤~**

 

The first thing Bradley had to notice about the door was that above it was a blue LED sign that said “K33P 0U7”, and the light was on.

“I don’t think we should go in there,” he stated, earning an eye roll from Sara.

“She always has that on--pretty much everyone’s learned to ignore it.”

Bradley opened his mouth to say something else, but Sara opened the door up and knocked on the frame as she entered. “Kris? We’re back.”

“Glad to hear it,” Kris answered without looking away from her computer. “How’d the mission go? Anything need to be reported to Flynn?”

“Uh, yeah…” Sara gripped Bradley’s shoulder and pulled him so he was in front of her.

“Gimme a sec, I’m a bit busy at the moment,” Kris answered with a side glance at them. “…Who’s the kid?”

Bradley got a glimpse of what was on Kris’s monitor and raised an eyebrow. “You’re playing an online game.”

“What? No, I’m not! I’m monitoring a Resistance mission in—” Before Kris could finish, a high score box popped up and Sara face-palmed. “…you didn’t answer my question about the kid.”

“Kris, this is Bradley. Bradley, this is Kris—she’s our communications expert with questionable priorities at times,” Sara explained without lifting her forehead from her hand. “Kris, can you get me a communication line with Candace?”

“Yes, yes, doing that…” Kris tapped at a few keys in front of her, and then tossed something at Sara. “You’re on with the leader. Don’t say anything stupid.”

“…I’m not you or Melissa, I’ll be fine,” Sara commented before putting the communicator to her ear. “Hello, Candace? It’s Sara…”

Bradley huffed and crossed his arms before asking, “What exactly is going on here? Why am I in here?”

Kris shrugged and went back to her game while Sara held up a finger towards him. “My team and I just returned from disabling one of Doof’s weapons. Uh…I’m not sure the name of the weapon, but it was part of something called ‘Project Murphy’. I can have Kris send something over to you if you want.” She covered the mouthpiece of the device and called over to Kris, “Can you please send Dr. Baljeet what you found about Project Murphy? And maybe get me a print out for Mort?”

“On it, Boss.”

Sara sighed and went back to the communicator. “We took away the power source, and trust me, Doof isn’t getting another one.”

Kris paused what she was doing to look up at Sara in mild concern, which Bradley rolled his eyes. “You guys have no proof that Emperor Doofenshmirtz was even aware of the project…”

“Oh, you’re gonna be a pleasant one…” Kris muttered as she went back to her work.

“We’re not doing anything like that!” Sara suddenly yelled before taking a deep breath. “I’m sorry for acting out of line, Sir, but I refuse to use him for anything like that. He’s already been so hurt from what Doof put him through…”

“Wait, you guys _found_ Milo?” Kris asked as her glasses fell down her nose. “Is he okay?”

Sara ignored Kris and continued talking to Candace. “My little brother was the power source, all right? Doof used his condition to…” Her voice faded and she started rubbing at her eyes to stop the tears from falling. “Th-thank you, Sir. Will do, all right. Talk to you later.” Sara let out a sigh as she se the communicator down on one of the desks and looked at Kris. “What?”

“…Murphy Project files have been sent and printed,” she answered before going back to her main computer. “I hope everything with Milo goes well. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.”

“Well, I do have one task for you…” Sara grabbed a stack of papers out of a printer and started looking through them before adding, “Can you keep an eye on Bradley for me? I need to help Mort with taking care of Milo, but I don’t want this little Elite running around unsupervised.”

“I don’t need a babysitter!”

“I’m not babysitting!”

Sara pinched the bridge of her nose at the two exclamations. “This is not up for debate. Bradley, you are staying _in here_ with Kris, and Kris, let him _stay in here_ with you. Make him help you out or something if you need it—I’m sure things have been a bit more challenging since Wally got sick.”

Kris simply rolled her eyes and pressed her head against an open space of desk. “I hate it when you’re right.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter we get to see everyone taking care of Milo. Who's looking forward to that?


	11. Chapter 10: Medical Care

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Milo needs his injuries checked out and Melissa...isn't prepared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Milo's PoV is such a pain to write, but it's /so/ worth it when it ends up well. He's just so...messed up in the head.
> 
> Also, yeah, I made Milo's speech appear the way he's talking. I was trying it, and it's interesting.

“Should we be concerned that he’s not awake yet?” Melissa asked without looking away from Milo’s sleeping form on the examination table. “I mean, he’s I know he’s been through a lot, but to still be asleep...”

Mort squeezed Melissa’s shoulder as he passed by to pull some bandages from a cabinet. “Don’t worry, Melissa. Today was a big day for him—you managed to rescue him from that Hell he’s been in for the past several years.”

Melissa screwed her eyes shut and sat down in a nearby chair. “ _I_ failed that mission—I got _caught_ , and what’s worse, I got a civilian captured.”

“Heh—I think that’s the first time that I’ve heard you refer to the Elites as human.” When Melissa didn’t respond, Mort sighed and sat down next to her. “As much as I hate how reckless you were for doing that, I think your heart was in the right place. I mean, you thought there was a chance of finding Milo, and you took that chance before even thinking it through.”

“...I didn’t expect to find him. When Bradley said that he saw a _kid_ involved with Project Murphy, my first thought was...that Project Murphy no longer referred to Milo...” Melissa rubbed at her eyes a bit before looking over at her old friend. “He’s so small, though... I can see why Bradley thought he was younger... He’s so _small_... I mean, he was before, but now—”

Mort wrapped an arm around Melissa’s shoulders and pulled her close despite her quickly pushing away. “How about I fix you up, then you can go home to sleep a bit. You’ve had a long and exciting day—I’d be amazed if you weren’t a bit drained.”

Melissa sighed and allowed Mort to examine the injuries she sustained during the mission. They didn’t have to do much—just a few scratches, icing on her head injury, and checking her leg for any damage from running around on it.

By the time they were finishing up and she was reaching to put her prosthetic back on, they heard a small thud sound across the room—some sort.

When he Woke Up, the first thing he noticed was that he was Lying Down and his wrists weren’t in the restraints. Why wasn’t he Chained—he was too Dangerous to be Free like this.

He opened his eyes to look around and didn’t Recognize where he was. New was Never Good. New usually meant New Punishments. What did he Do to get a New Punishment?

He attempted to lift himself up, but his elbows buckled under him and he fell back to what he was on.

“Milo! You’re awake!” The Girl yelled when she saw him. “How’re you feeling?”

Why did she want to Know?

“I take it you aren’t gonna be leaving anytime soon...” someone else said. “Make sure you at least stay out of my way while I’m working on him...”

“Thanks, Mort.”

He watched as The Boy came over to him and gave him a small smile. “Hey, Milo. Glad you’re awake.”

Of course—that was the only time they could do anything to him. Why didn’t they Wake him up, though? And...Milo? Why were they calling him that?

“We’re just gonna try to fix you up, all right? Take care of some of the injuries you got while you were gone.”

“Wh-why?” As soon as he Asked the Question, he flinched back. He didn’t need to Know why anyone did anything; everyone Knew Better than he did.

Despite his Question, The Boy didn’t get Mad at him. Instead, he smiled and said, “Because we don’t want you to be hurt.” The Boy opened up a box nearby and pulled out a small jar, which he opened up to pull out some goopy stuff. “I just need to put this on some of your bruises, all right, Milo?”

He nodded (still wondering about the Milo thing) and watched as the boy brought his goop-covered hand to his eye.

And he flinched again.

“Milo, you need to stay still in order for Mort to help you,” The Girl said from her seat nearby. “He’s not going to hurt you—you’re safe now.”

He gave a small nod at the Command and Prepared. The Boy reached for his eye again and this time he held still while the cold goop chilled his skin.

 _‘Focus,’_ he told himself. _‘Not here_ _…_ _’_

Next thing he Knew, he was on The Ground with The Girl and The Boy hovering over him.

“What happened in here?” another voice yelled, and he looked to see Another Girl with one hand on the doorway and the other holding some papers. “Is Milo all right?”

“He fainted,” The Boy answered without looking away from him. “Melissa? Can you check his pulse?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“‘M s’rry,” he said as he screwed his eyes shut and flinched from something touching his wrist. “D’dn’t mean t’...B’tt’r n’xt t’me…”

“Milo, you did fine. I guess you’re not used to this stuff,” The Boy said with a sigh.

He shook his head, then opened his eyes at The Girl’s voice saying “Hey, what could cause a scar like this?”

Everyone looked at his wrist to see what The Girl was talking about. Both of his wrists were dark in color--darkest part of his skin--with lines of another color along the dark. What The Girl was looking at, though, was a small circle of the other color on the front of his wrist.

“No sl’p,” he answered. “Sl’p ’n’ zzp.”

“There was an electric line in his cuffs,” The Other Girl said as she came over and handed The Boy her papers. “Kris gave me the files on Project Murphy. Some nights, they’d activate the electric line so that whenever he started drifting off, it’d shock him awake again.”

He nodded at the explanation. This Girl--who seemed Older now that he Looked Closer--was Very Right.

“They sleep deprived him?” The Girl asked with a lot of Anger that he flinched back from. “That bastard!”

“Melissa, calm down,” The Boy said. “Remember our talks?”

“You know damned well I can’t calm down with shit like this!” The Girl yelled before standing up and running out of the room.

“Melissa, wait!” The Other Girl yelled before getting up, too, and running after The Girl.

Melissa didn’t run very far--as if she could with her leg--instead stopping once she was outside of the med bay. Once she was in the hallway, her right hand curled into a fist and she slammed it as hard as possible into the wall, causing her hand to throb in ignored pain.

“You doin’ okay, Meli?”

“What do you think?”

Sara sighed and gently took Melissa’s hand in hers to inspect the damage. “At least you didn’t break anything this time…Just a bit of bruising on your knuckles.”

Melissa let out a huff. “Why would it matter if did break my hand? It's not like I can do anything--I'm on probation, remember?”

“While part of that is because of your recent stunts, the other part is because I need someone to keep an eye on Milo, and--temper aside--I think you'd be best for the job.”

Melissa crossed her arms and glared at Sara. “How many options did you have?”

“Well, you and Kris---and now Bradley, I guess--are the only ones who don't absolutely have to go home every night. Bradley is an Elite so I'm not gonna trust him with my little brother, and I've already tasked Kris with him in addition to her normal duties--”

“You put the Elite with _Kris_?!” Melissa yelled before face palming. “I don't normally question your decisions--”

“You always do.”

“But _what_ on _Earth_ made you think putting the two of them together was a good idea?”

“I didn't trust him by himself, Kris needs help in her ‘lair’, and she's less likely to kill him than you are.”

Melissa rolled her eyes with a shrug. “I really wish I could argue that, but you're not wrong there. Anyway, why can’t Milo go home with you? I’m sure your mom would love to see him again.”

“I know, but...” Sara averted her gaze and sighed. “We don’t want Milo getting into Doof’s hands again, so Candace and I agreed that it’d be a good idea for Milo to stay down here in the Resistance base for the time being.”

“And you’re trusting me with him?” Melissa asked as she kicked at the ground. “That just seems like a bad idea... I mean, today went by, and the _last_ time I was trusted with Milo—”

“You were seven years old and did the best you could.” Sara gently cupped Melissa’s chin to make their eyes meet. “You don’t blame yourself for what happened, do you?”

Melissa simply pushed Sara’s hand away and went back into the med bay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *looks around* Okay, Melissa is sharing stuff with me I wasn't aware of...This'll make future chapters more interesting ^^


	12. Chapter 11: New Normalcy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sara tries to convince Mort that Milo will be fine under Melissa's care while Kris tries to convince Bradley that Doofenshmirtz as benevolent as he believes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, new chapter! /And/ you guys get to learn about some of MIlo's treatment!

Sara didn’t look away from the papers in her hand when she heard Mort come in, but he dd allow a side glance at him. “How’s he doing?”

“Melissa’s helping him get cleaned up.” He slid out another chair and sat down next to Sara. “She claims you put her in charge of him?”

“Of course I did--she was best for the job. My house is the first place Doof look, so honestly, it’s safest for Milo to stay down here until Doof’s taken down.” She sighed and set down the papers so she could look at Mort straight on. “You and I can’t stay down here all the time, and I don’t think our Runaways would be well suited for watching him…”

“So Bradley’s officially staying here? And doesn’t Melissa need to go home, too?

Sara pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a slow breath. “Well we can’t have Bradley reporting our hideout to his Elite friends, so for now he’ll be staying with Kris, who obviously has her hands full with him in addition to her other stuff. Now, I’m not at liberty to share what Melissa’s home situation is, but she’s able to stay down here with Milo on a constant basis, providing a level of security he needs if he’s to recover.”

Mort crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat. “I’m just concerned about how she can be a bit...testy at times.

“Mort, trust me, I know--Melissa’s basically my little sister, I think I know her problems better than  _ she _ does. Thing is, she was Milo’s only friend before...all of this, and it was only after she lost him that she became as volatile as she is.” Sara let out another slow breath  and walked over to the stove, where a pan of something was sitting on a burner. “She’d sooner stick hot pokers in her eye than do anything to harm Milo.”

“Doesn’t mean she won’t do anything on accident--she thinks with her emotions, and that’s only if she thinks.”

“Stop before you convince me you’re gonna miss having her as a partner.” Sara mixed the contents of her pan and looked over at Mort. “I understand your concern, but I know what I’m doing with them.”

Mort sighed and stood up from the table. “All right, I won’t argue with you about this. I need to get home, though--don’t wanna risk a NormBot check.”

“I’ll probably take off after checking in on the kids,” Sara agreed with a nod. “The stuff Doof did to him...it’s appalling.” She squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her hands into fists. “He was so young…  _ No one _ deserves that kind of treatment…”

“What kind of treatment?”

Sara and Mort both looked over at the entryway of the kitchen to see Bradley standing there semi-close to the wall. “Bradley, you’re supposed to be in the communication center with Kris,” Sara pointed out with a slight glare. “Why are you wandering around the base and eavesdropping like this?”

“Kris sent me here,” he answered without making any move to actually  _ enter _ the kitchen. “She won’t come out of her room, though.”

“Hm, just after we finally got her comfortable with coming out…” Sara muttered before pulling out four bowls from a nearby cabinet. “All right, I was about to dish up dinner anyway. You hungry?”

Bradley’s lips formed a thin line as he walked into the kitchen and watched Sara scoop rice up into the bowls. “How much of the stuff down here is stolen?”

Mort rolled his eyes and pulled a few water bottles out of a cooler. “Some of the Resistance members have to remain hidden for their safety, and we have to provide for them  _ somehow _ .”

“That’s what happens when you go against the Emperor…”

Sara slammed down the spoon she was using the scoop the rice and glared at Bradley. “The same Emperor who’d been keeping my brother captive for nearly six years?”

“You don’t know he was responsible!”

Sara opened her mouth to say something, but then shook her head and picked up two of the dishes, which she held out to Bradley. “Take these and go back to the communications room with Kris. I’m not gonna deal with you right  now. Maybe she can knock some sense into you.”

Bradley grabbed the bowls shoved into his hands, but glared at Sara a bit. “I’m sorry for believing our leader. He’s never given any reason for this response, though.”

“Bradley, Kris’s room,  _ now _ .”

“All right, fine! I’ll go!”

Bradley turned on his heel to leave the kitchen, and ignored how he nearly bumped into Melissa as he did so. He ignored the slight glare she gave him as he left, and made his way back through the hallways of the Resistance base towards the room Sara had left him in earlier, where Kris was still sitting behind her computer screens. 

“Hey, kid,” she greeted without looking up.  “Back already?”

“Sara kicked me out of the kitchen.” Bradley slammed one of the bowls on the desk and sat down in an extra chair with a scowl. “I said something about Emperor Doofenshmirtz, and she kinda blew up at me.”

“Well, all of us have some sort of grudge against Doof--most of us had our families ruined by him,” Kris answered before taking a bite of her rice.

“He’s doing everything he can to help everyone,” Bradley stated in a flat tone. “I’m sorry for whatever happened to you, but you need to stop blaming him for everything.”

“Things like Milo?”

Bradley rolled his eyes and huffed. “Emperor Doofenshmirtz wasn’t part of that. It was some guard in his tower.”

Kris gripped her desk and rotated around to glare at Bradley over the top of her glasses. “And you think Doof was unaware of it?”

“He wouldn’t have let any of that happen if he wasn’t.”

“He was in charge of it!”

Bradley slammed a fist on the desk and yelled, “You don't know that!”

“Really?” She turned back to her monitor and started reading, “‘Day three: Project Murphy is still uncooperative and causing the machine to break down when we put it in, along with any NormBots used to escort it around the premises. In addition, as of writing this, Project Murphy has tried to  _ leave _ the premises on nearly a dozen occasions. After it nearly exited the building, a shock collar was put on it to make it start behaving. In addition, starting tomorrow, The MurphyBorg will be used as its primary guard and escort. As far as damages to Project Murphy--’”

“Stop!” Bradley yelled before curling up in his chair. “I  _ saw _ his injuries! The guard was the one hurting him!”

“These files are directly from Doof’s personal computer system, and it implies there were a few guard changes.” She turned slightly to look at Bradley over her shoulder and added, “He was seven years old when he was captured, he's gonna turn thirteen in a few months, and what I just read is just the beginning of what he went through. Now riddle me this, Elite: how could Doofenshmirtz--who has eyes and ears everywhere in Danville--not know that something like this was being done in his own building for nearly six years with his own NormBots?”

Instead of answering, Bradley curled up more and rotated his seat so his back was to Kris.

“You don't have an answer, do you?” Finally, Kris turned back to her computer and put on a pair of nearby headphones. “Not even your kind are safe from him…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love Kris and Bradley's relationship...And you guys will be able to see what's going on with Milo and Melissa next chapter
> 
> Also, the idea with the shock collar belongs to Mary-the-Mark-Maker, aka MTMM on here ^^


End file.
